Yesterday was the final day of the NH Season and, although we weren’t represented with runners, it was a fabulous day of racing. The boys are particularly pleased that Harry Skelton was crowned Champion Jockey – in fact it was 5 years ago to the day that we went to Sandown to cheer in new Champion Richard Johnson and, looking back on photos, they posed for one with a certain H Skelton! Who’d have thought 5 years on he’d be Champ?! Both superb role models for the boys and all the other children who follow our wonderful sport.
We did have five runners on Friday and whilst they all ran well, we frustratingly didn’t manage to quite get one of their heads in front!
At Worcester our 1st runner Enforcement, for the Racing Club, missed the break and was always playing catch up. He jumped well though for Kai Lenihan and stayed on to finish 6th and gave the Racing Club a fun night out. Batsford Stud’s Miss Antipova ran another solid race under James Best to finish a good 3rd and once again delight her owners – they’ll be some party when she gets her head in front!
Just A Diva, who can be a bit buzzy at home, was really good in the preliminaries and only got a little lit up when she got to the post. James Best is the man you want on board on horses like this and she had a lovely introduction to the racecourse finishing 6th. She’ll go back to Martin & Jackie Jones for a bit of a break now and come back in to run when there is more ease in the ground.
Finally, Kazontherazz showed that her last run was one to put a line through and she ran a blinder to finish a very good 2nd and delight her owners, The Meagher Family, in doing so. They’ll be another group of people who will ensure there is some party when she gets her head in front. A very likeable performance and a tough mare.
Solstice Star ran a great race at Chepstow under Fergus Gregory, jumping for fun and giving Foxtrot Racing owners a fun evening. Despite running a fine race to finish 3rd, he showed that although he still loves the game, the Handicapper does need to give him a bit more of a chance as he is struggling to win off the mark he’s on.
Yesterday Mark Boothright was in the yard with his family to watch Back on the Lash and Pinnacle Peak do their fast work. Paul Davis in too.
It goes without saying that the 2020/2021 Season was the toughest we’ve ever had and we are so grateful to our amazing owners and team for sticking by us through what would have undoubtedly been such a tough year for them all too….”alone we are strong….together we are stronger”.
We very much look forward to the start of the 2021/2022 season where we have a lovely looking team, many ready to run, and, if the saying ‘you make your own luck’ is true, we are working even harder to make more luck in this coming season.
We cannot wait for an unlimited amount of owners and big crowds to join us in cheering Keighley trained winners back into the Winners’ Enclosure – hopefully very regularly!
Not so far in the future we have two great causes we are supporting this week and would love your help too. Aintree Hero Bob Champion is here on Tuesday to walk up our gallops as part of his 191 mile walk over 40 days from Aintree to Findon – he was in hospital for 191 days and it’s 40 years since he won The Grand National on Aldiniti at Aintree – Aldiniti was trained at Findon by Josh Gifford. Read more HERE and if you can’t join us then please donate!
Later in the week 8 year old Freja Thackray from North Yorkshire is running up gallops raising all important funds for Racing Welfare. She is at the end of her 20 lots of 2021 metres in 2021 – what a superstar she is and we can’t wait to meet her. Again please support her and Racing Welfare by clicking HERE. The support Racing Welfare give us and our team is simply unbelieveable – from Self Isolation Covid Grants to advice on mental health issues to help with training to help with physiotherapy – they are ALWAYS at the end of the phone/text/email and ALWAYS willing go above and beyond. As an industry we are incredibly fortunate and so grateful and they deserve every penny.